The opera, based on the novel by Dostoevsky, the last opera by Weinberg, was completed in 1986. The premiere of a small cast edition took place in 1991 on the stage of the Chamber Music Theatre that is now part of the Bolshoi.

The production was realised by the artistic director of the Chamber Theatre, the great director Boris Pokrovsky. The world premiere of a full stage version was at the Mannheim National Theatre (Germany) almost twenty-five years later, in 2013. The current production at the Bolshoi was realised by famous Polish conductor Michał Klauza and by director and teacher Evgeny Arye, the founder of the world famous Israeli Gesher Theatre. It came out in 2017 on the New Stage of the Bolshoi Theatre and became a significant event in the cultural life of the country.